India’s first clash of the Super Six stage of the ongoing U-19 World Cup 2026 was against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The pressure was on the captain of the blue brigade, Ayush Mhatre, to deliver with the bat, but the Mumbai-born turned up with the ball during the fixture. He picked up three wickets in the crucial encounter. 

Ayush Mhatre's first wicket came against Michael Bilgnaut. It was a dream delivery for any off-spinner, as it turned sharply from well outside the off-stump and sneaked through the bat and pad, to crash into the middle stump, sending back the batter to the pavilion for a four-ball duck in the second innings.

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Two overs later, on the third delivery of the 37th over of the innings, it was another delivery that turned sharply to wrap on the pads. The umpire instantly raised his finger as the batter went on the back foot and looked to turn it on the on-side. She missed as the ball came sharply off the surface and was hit on the front pad.

Ayush Mhatre picked three wickets in India's 204-run victory 

On the last delivery of the same over, Ayush got his third wicket of Tatenda Chimugoro on 29 runs. The batter backed away and looked to smash the ball down the long-on region, but he didn’t get the expected elevation and ended up being caught on the boundary rope by the fielder.

Watch the video here: 

#ayushmhatre pic.twitter.com/j01pyO7YBc

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Zimbabwe got bundled out for just 148 runs in 37.4 overs, with only Leeroy Chiwaula putting 62 runs as an impressive knock in 77 balls with the help of seven boundaries and one six. Mhatre ended with figures of 3/14 in four overs, while Udhav Mohan recorded 3/20 in his 6.4 overs.

Earlier in the game, India posted a massive score of 352 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Vihaan Malhotra posted an unbeaten knock of 109 runs in 107 balls, shouldering on seven boundaries, while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhigyan Kundu celebrated their respective half-centuries in the innings.

Brief Scores: India 352/8 (Vihaan Malhotra 109*, Abhigyan Kundu 61, Talendra Chimugoro 3/49) beat Zimbabwe 148 (Leeroy Chirowala 62, Ayush Mhatre 3/13) by 204 runs.